The present invention relates generally to agricultural seed planters, and more particularly to a crop conversion plug that increases the efficiency of solid row crop planters.
As the size of agricultural implements continues to grow, the versatility of such implements becomes more significant. Large air seeders have become increasingly popular for the planting of seeds, fertilizer, and other product. In order to increase farmers' asset utilization and reduce their capital requirements, many agricultural equipment manufacturers have introduced split row or otherwise called solid row crop planters. The premise behind a split row planter is to allow a farmer to plant multiple row crops at different row widths. Particularly in the Midwest, corn is primarily planted at 30″ row spacing while soybeans are planted at 15″ row spacing. Having the ability to plant both crops with one machine is extremely desirable.
Split row planters comprised of a bulk fill seed system distribute seed from a bulk storage tank through a conduit to isolated seed metering devices located on each individual row unit. A fan blows air through a distributor where it induces seed from the bulk storage tank to flow into the conduit eventually supplying the individual planter metering units with seed. The conduit carrying the seed entrenched air is split between two planter rows by a “Y” shaped connector that feeds a single 30″ corn row and a single 15″ soybean row.
It would be of significant advantage to develop a simple, yet reliable modification to such planting systems for controlling the flow of seeds to selected row units.